There for You
by SouthernersCanWrestle
Summary: When Raven leaves the WWE, he leaves a close friend behind. Will love for her bring him back? Raven/Lita My first fic. I suck at summaries, so please don't hold that against me.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Obviously, I don't own these people. If I did, I wouldn't be sharing them with you. So don't sue me. The only things I even really own of any worth are this computer and an old Volvo. So...yeah. Please respond, just don't send reviews that say things like, "THIS STOREY SUX!" and not give any reasons. I'll ignore you. Otherwise, if you talk to me nicely, you'll be my friend forever. Cool? Okay, then let's shut up and get on with it.  
  
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Raven picked up his gym bag and sighed, opening the door to leave the locker room. It was his last night working with the WWE, and he had made his first appearance back on RAW after almost two years. He'd asked to have his contract bought out and was leaving for another company, with no fanfare, no parting moment. He was going to simply disappear from World Wrestling Entertainment television. He'd even had to lose his last match.  
  
Things were so much different in ECW. He was so important there. He was the main-eventer, the man. And now? Just that weird guy that got banished to Sunday Night Heat.  
  
Opening the door, he ran straight into someone who had been trying to walk up to the locker room. It only took him a second to realize it was his old ECW friend Miss Congeniality, now known in the WWE as Lita, known to her friends as Amy.  
  
"I'm sorry Scott," she quickly apologized. "I just wanted to talk to you...you know...before you left."  
  
He nodded, avoiding her eyes. He didn't want to see the hurt he was causing the friends he was leaving behind. It had been bad enough saying goodbye to Tommy Dreamer earlier...It would be nearly impossible to say the same to Amy.  
  
Amy leaned down so she could look up into his face. "Don't avoid me. I wasn't going to let you leave without saying goodbye."  
  
"I know," he murmured, saying as little as possible to keep himself from breaking down into tears. "I'm sorry."  
  
Lita sighed and reached up to wrap her arms around her old friend in a tight hug. After a second, Raven dropped his bags and reached out as well to pull her towards him. They stood that way for a long moment, neither saying anything, and Amy felt two hot tears land on her bare shoulder. She leaned up, and kissed his cheek. They finally pulled away from one another.  
  
"Let's go out somewhere tonight, okay?" Her brown eyes searched his gently. "Hang out one more time for old time's sake."  
  
Scott nodded, and smiled a little sadly. "Yeah, I think we can do that."  
"Great," she smiled beautifully at him, and they walked together out to the parking lot. 


	2. Chapter 2

Walking out to the parking lot, Amy turned and looked at Raven. "I hate to be a pain, but would you mind if I ran back to the hotel and got changed first?" She gestured to her cute, but basically casual baby tee and cargo pants. "I'm not exactly club material at the moment."  
  
"Since when did you turn into such a girl?" Raven teased. "Oh, I've got to get all pretty for the handsome half-drunk prince charming I'm sure to meet at some random night club," he mocked in a high-pitched voice.  
  
Lita hunched over, imitating his brooding walk and said in a low voice, imitating him, "You're nothing more than a degenerate. Your hypocrisy is amazing. You want to judge me for trying to look nice for just one night, when you've worn eyeliner to the ring for years. Quoth the Amy: Nevermore."  
  
She was happy to hear him laughing so hard at her lame impersonation. She sensed there wouldn't be much happiness for him in the coming days. For her, neither. She wondered still why he was leaving, but knew better than to ask. She'd known Scott long enough to understand that he'd tell her in his own time what was going through that deep mind of his.  
  
"Fine," he smiled at her. "I'll agree to let you go primp and satisfy your vanity. It obviously stems from your insecurities about your bad acting skills."  
  
Amy stuck her tongue out at him. "Meet me in my hotel lobby at 10:30 then?"  
  
"Fair enough. But you'd better be ready or I'm taking Jeff instead."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "He takes even longer than me. And he's probably hidden out somewhere with his cellphone using up all his free minutes to tell Beth how much he loves her."  
  
"True, true. I could take Matt, then."  
  
Lita glared at him, but it was obvious from the slight way her mouth curved up at the corners that she was joking. "I'll see you in the lobby at 10:30," she told him sternly, and that settled the matter.  
  
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It really took Amy no time at all to get ready. She grabbed a sleeveless silver top she'd picked up while in England for the Invasion pay-per-view, and changed from her baggy cargo pants into some low-riding black stretchy denim bellbottoms. Her hair and make-up were fine from where she'd had them done for the Heat taping earlier in the night, and she ended up with some time to kill, arriving in the lobby at 10:20.  
  
It was 10:30, the time they had agreed on, and Scott still hadn't shown. He finally came striding quickly into the lobby eight minutes late. Amy was taken back by his appearance.  
  
She'd never tried to deny that her friend was a handsome enough guy, but tonight he actually looked like he'd make an effort for once. His recently cut hair was pulled slightly back from his face, with most of it hanging free from the short ponytail. And, Amy admitted to herself, he did look very nice in his black pants and tight white shirt.  
  
"Why the get up?" she asked him as he walked up, apologizing for his tardiness.  
  
"Oh, you know, special occasion," Scott told her. "The last time I have to hang out with this reallly lame annoying redhead, you know her?"  
  
"Yeah right. I know your secret," she smiled at him.  
  
"Oh?" he asked, apparently a little taken aback.  
  
"Yup," Lita nodded slowly. "I've got it figured out. You're just way too obvious...You're leaving the company to become an Abercrombie & Fitch model, aren't you?"  
  
"Curses," Scott played along. "Foiled again. I guess I'll have to kill you before you let my secret out, huh?"  
  
"Fair enough," Lita shrugged. "Do I get a last request though?"  
  
He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, I refuse to be your love slave for a night. Anything else?"  
  
"Fine," she laughed, and Scott felt something twinge in his heart at the way she threw her head back and her eyes crinkled at the corners. "Will you at least just take me out dancing then, like we originally agreed?"  
  
"Lead the way, m'lady," he told her with a mock bow, and tried to ignore the little bit of childish happiness he felt when she took his arm. 


	3. Chapter 3

As you probably know, I do not own the song "Iris". The Goo Goo Dolls do, and it is on the album "Dizzy Up the Girl". They are an incredible band, and I highly recommend their music, particularly this song.  
  
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The club was already packed when they arrived. Lita tried to pull Scott out onto the dance floor, but he stubbornly planted himself in one place at the bar. Lita rolled her eyes.  
  
"Fine. I need to run to the bathroom real quick. Can you go ahead and order me a-"  
  
"Shirley Temple with extra cherries?" he asked her smiling.  
  
She rolled her eyes again, and Scott noticed what an enchanting shade of brown they were, deep, but not too dark. "I guess you know me too well, huh?" Lita asked him.  
  
He shrugged, and Amy didn't notice the brief sadness that flashed behind his smile. "I guess so."  
  
Scott ordered and paid for their drinks and quickly downed his as he waited for Amy to get back. The song "Hot in Herre" had been playing for a couple of minutes when she rejoined him at the bar.  
  
"Come on," she grabbed his hand and pulled him up off the bar stool. "This is a great song. You've gotta come dance with me."  
  
"To this decadent mainstream degenerate music?" he asked her increduously. "I think not."  
  
"Oh, come on. Okay, so it's got stupid lyrics, but it's a good song for dancing. Anyway, for me?" she pleaded.  
  
"Fine," he agreed walking out to the floor with her. Amy thought she heard him mutter something along the lines of "evil corrupting temptress woman knows I can't dance" under his breath, but the music was so loud that she couldn't be sure.  
  
Just at the moment that they had made it onto the dance floor, the song ended. "You're welcome for the dance," Raven told her as he tried to make a quick getaway. A slow song began to play at that moment. "Not so fast," Amy told him as she pulled him back onto the floor. She stubbornly wrapped her arms around his neck. "You owe me a dance."  
  
He looked down at her and his breath caught in his throat. His nervousness about dancing in front of other people quickly melted away, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.  
  
As the song "Iris" played, they circled slowly together, swaying so gently it hardly appeared they were moving. Raven laid his head down on Amy's shoulder and closed his eyes, breathing in the clean smell of her hair, trying to lock this moment in his mind, so he'd always be able to remember the time he finally admitted to himself that he was in love with his best friend.  
  
When the song ended, Lita looked up at him contently. "That wasn't so awful, was it?" she asked, tugging on a strand of hair that had fallen down over his eyebrow.  
  
"Not at all," he told her softly.  
  
"Don't suppose I could convince you to risk another one?" she asked hopefully.  
  
He laughed. "No, I've more than fulfilled my quota for the night. I think I'll just hang out over there at the bar and watch you dance, if that's all right with you."  
  
She shooked her head, red curls flying all over the place. "It's not all right with me...but go ahead anyway."  
  
Amy smiled as she watched her friend walk away. She was still slightly intoxicated from the last few minutes they had spent in each other's arms. He was so strong, and she'd felt so safe and protected... "Get over it," she told herself sharply. "He just sees you as a friend."  
  
Trying to take her mind off more serious matters, Amy threw herself wildly into the dance, a new, fast song having just come on. At the bar, Raven ordered himself another drink. 


	4. Chapter 4

They spent most of the night that way. Raven hung back at the bar, drinking continually as he watched Lita dance. He found her intoxicating; he couldn't think about anyone or anything else as he watched her. Just her, and the nagging sadness in the back of his mind that he would soon not be seeing her very often. As he had done while they were dancing, he tried to memorize every little thing about her. The way the light was glinting off her hair, the way her eyes crinkled up when she laughed, the way she seemed to be in a world all of her own as she moved to the rhythyms of the club music.  
  
Lita, for her part, danced most of the night, only periodically joining her friend at the bar when she was too tired and had to rest for one song. On about her fifth trip back, after they had been at the club a few hours, she noticed that Scott hardly seemed to be able to focus on what she was saying, and his speech was slurred.  
  
"Great," she muttered. "Scott, you're plastered aren't you?"  
  
He looked at her blankly. "That depends on what you mean by palstered...prastled...plas-you know, whatever you just said," he slurred.  
  
"I mean are you drunk out of your mind?!?" she shouted at him.  
  
"Oh," he said mildly surprised. "Yeah, I guess so."  
  
Lita threw an angry glance at the barkeeper. He shrugged as if to say "don't-blame-me" and handed her Scott's carkeys. "Don't worry; I was looking out for him," he told her.  
  
"Thanks," she nodded. "All right big guy," she told Scott, helping him up from the stool. "Time to go home."  
  
Amy stumbled, half-carrying Raven back to the car. When they got there, she stood in front of it, trying to figure out how to reach the keys that were in her pocket, unlock the door, and get her heavy, drunk buddy inside without either of them taking a nasty tumble to the pavement. She finally decided to try to get some help out of Scott.  
  
"Scott, do you think you can manage something for me?" she asked, struggling to keep him upright.  
  
"Anything gorgeous. I'm your man," he mumbled.  
  
"That's really reassuring at the moment," she thought to herself, but instead politely asked, "Do you think you can grab those car keys out of my right front pocket?"  
  
"Um...yeah. You're not gonna get mad at me if I accidentally touch your butt or anything are you?"  
  
"Just hand me the keys, Scott," she finally snapped, her patience breaking.  
  
He did as he was told, and they were soon both safely in the car, with Amy in the driver's seat.  
  
She was about to turn out of the parking lot, when she stopped and let her head drop down onto the steering wheel.  
  
"Amy? Are you okay?" Raven asked quickly, his words only slurring a little as fear brought him partially out of his drunken stupor.  
  
She shook her head a little, laughing softly. "I wouldn't suppose you have any clue in this state of mind what hotel you're even at, much less where to find it?"  
  
Scott started to speak, but then closed his mouth and shook his head. "No, not really."  
  
Amy laughed ironically to herself again. "Shoulda known. All right, I've got a couch. It looks like you're slumming with me for the night." 


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note to Elane (my one reviewer!): You'll just have to read and find out how honest he is, I guess. : ) I think you'll be pleased with how things go.  
  
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Lita drove the both of them back to her hotel and, with considerable effort, helped Raven up to the room.  
  
"Gawd, do you get heavier when you're drunk?"  
  
"Alcohol weighs a whole lot," Raven muttered. "Anyway, how would you know, it's not like you've ever had to carry me before now anyway."  
  
"Thank God," she said under her breath.  
  
When they finally managed to make it inside the room, Amy just kind of let Scott drop down onto the bed. He immediately tried to sit up and protest.  
  
"Naw Ames, I don't want to impose. I can't take the bed. I'll just crash on the couch, okay?"  
  
"You've already crashed," she told him, as his head thumped back down on the pillow. He was so drunk he could hardly move. "Anyway," she explained. "You are going to sleep on the couch. I was just tired of having to hold you up and needed a break."  
  
"Understandable," he agreed sleepily. Then, abruptly he said, "You're such a great person, Amy."  
  
She laughed a little and shook her head at him, coming to sit on the side of the bed next to where he lay. "No, I'm just a person with a great hotel room that has a couch."  
  
"No, I'm serious," he slurred, fumbling up to take her hand. "You're an amazing...beautiful woman...and you deserve the best the world can offer you."  
  
At the time, in Raven's alcohol-influenced mind, everything he was saying seemed to make perfect sense. He squinted up at her, trying to make the three blurred Litas he was seeing become one.  
  
"I have to ask you," he said, rubbing her hand with his thumb. "Will you marry me?"  
  
"Um, Scott, that's really sweet," she told him. "And I appreciate the gesture and everything...but you just slipped your keyring onto my finger."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I didn't really plan this too well," he muttered, releasing her hand.  
  
"Hey, at least you're not an angry or depressed drunk. You're a very romantic one." Lita leaned over and kissed the top of his forehead, right near the hairline. "Sleep it off. I don't think you'll be so willing to propose when you're sober."  
  
She turned off the light and went to take the spot on the couch. She faintly heard Scott's slurred mumble. "You never know. 'Night Amy."  
  
"Goodnight. Try to sleep."  
  
"You too."  
  
"I don't know how easy that will be," Amy thought to herself, lying awake in the dark, wondering how much of what drunk people said they actually meant. 


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Once again, special thanks to Angelscribe and Elane for reviewing. Come on guys, I know those two aren't the only ones with a keyboard! I'm craving input here. Oh, plus, I don't own Tylenol. Well, I own some of them, but not like, the company or the trademark of anything. So...yeah. Oh, and I know this chapter's a tad long, but I don't write them based on length, but rather by how I think the story should be split up. I hope you'll have time to read it and will like it anyway, though. It's one of my favorites.  
  
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Bright light bursting through the cracks of the blinds awoke Raven the next morning. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.  
  
"Face it like a man," he heard Lita say, and opened his eyes to see her leaning beside him holding a pair of Tylenol in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She fed him the two pills as one might a baby, and put her hand behind his head to help him lean up and get a sip of water. Once he had been medicated, he dropped his head back onto the pillow and groaned again.  
  
"What happened last night?"  
  
"Don't get your hopes up. Notice that you're still fully clothed?"  
  
Scott opened his eyes a little bit to look down at himself and realize that not only was he fully clothed, he was also lying on top of the covers, making the bed hardly even look like it had been slept in. "So you didn't get me drunk to take advantage of me?" he joked.  
  
"I didn't get you drunk at all. For some reason you took it upon yourself to get into a drinking contest with, well, yourself. So don't blame me for that vicious hangover I know you've got right now."  
  
"I would never. So did I do anything too embarrassing last night?" he asked a little nervously, and apologetically.  
  
Lita laughed. "I didn't know you were capable of embarrassment. But no, you didn't throw up on me or anything, so I guess not." She kept quietly to herself his previous night's marriage proposal.  
  
"Well, that's good. I'm sorry I took over your bed."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I ended up not sleeping on the couch," she hesitantly confessed. "I took the other side of the bed. I was worried about you. I didn't know if you might end up with alcohol poisoning or something," she admitted, trying to sound casual. It was the truth, she really had been worried about him, but she didn't know how he would feel about her sleeping next to him when he was passed out.  
  
Actually, the main thought running through Raven's head was, "I had Amy lying next to me all night and I was too drunk to realize it? I really screwed this one up." Another, crueler voice in the back of his mind said, "It's not like it means anything. She was just worried that you'd drunk so much that you'd stop breathing right here in the hotel room. That would have been a beautiful mess, wouldn't it? Way to give a girl a good time. You're supposed to take her out for the night and have fun, and instead you end up smashed. Forget ever being a good boyfriend; you're not even a friend."  
  
"Amy...I'm so sorry I put you through all this stress. I don't know what I was thinking. I-"  
  
"Just don't worry about it, okay?" she interrupted him, brushing his hair back off his forehead. "I know you're going through a lot right now. I wish you'd talk to me about it, but I'm not going to put any pressure on you."  
  
He reached up and took her hand. "You're such a great person, Amy."  
  
Amy's breath caught in her throat and she looked away from his eyes, remembering what had come after he'd said those exact same words the night before. He saw her emotionally draw away from him, and wondered how much she'd been lying when she'd said he hadn't done anything embarrassing last night. "I just mean," he went on, trying to sound more casual. "Thanks for taking such good care of me."  
  
Lita shrugged and laughed, just a little nervously. "It's nothing. Besides, you've always taken care of me."  
  
Scott sat up and brushed a piece of hair back behind her left ear. "I've tried," he murmured, tracing the small scar that lingered there down the side of her cheek.  
  
She angrily slapped his hand away. "Don't."  
  
"I just don't understand why you won't tell me who it was that did it."  
  
"And I don't understand why you won't drop it," she snapped at him. "It was a long time ago."  
  
"It hasn't even been a year."  
  
"One year next week," she admitted a little more softly. "But there was nothing you could have done about it at the time, and there's definitely nothing you can do about it now."  
  
"I just wish you'd tell me."  
  
Lita shook her head, her eyes filling with tears has her mind filled with memories. Hunter cornering her in the hallway late after a show one night...Hunter coming onto her...Hunter getting angry when she repeatedly turned him down flat...And then Hunter, hitting her over and over, his ring cutting once into the side of her face so deeply that it still left a faint scar there, to this day.  
  
Scott saw her thinking deeply, and scooted over to gently wrap his arms around her. He let out a small sigh of relief when she didn't sink away from him but instead leaned further into him, laying her head on his chest. He stroked her hair absent-mindedly. "I could never stand to let anyone hurt you."  
  
"I know that. But I couldn't stand to see you get hurt, either. And if you tried to go all vigilante for me, that's exactly what would happen." She looked up at him. "It's not as if I don't trust you. But that's why I could never tell you."  
  
They paused like that, wrapped in each other's arms, their faces inches away from each other. Abruptly Lita pulled away and stood up. Raven let his arms drop with a slight sigh.  
  
"Come on," she muttered, all-business now. "We've got to get you back to your hotel so you can get your stuff or you'll miss your flight."  
  
He looked at the alarm clock over on the nightstand. She was right; he only had 30 minutes to get to the airport. "Whatever you say," he agreed softly. 


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay it's taken me in posting this chapter. I've been really really sick. But I'm one of those stupid people who tries to keep going when they're sick, so it's not like I've been able to just chill at home and work on this. No, I keep doing everything I would normally do, so that I'm too tired to even turn the computer on when I get home. So...yeah. Thanks so much to all you guys who have been reviewing. It means the world to me (and I think it cures my cough a little bit) when I come home and see those e-mails showing someone is actually reading this story that I'm putting my heart and soul into. So, shout-outs to: Elane (as always), Angelscribe (another long-timer), Mysticalfem, Carrie, and Alissa (all new). Now let's get onto the reason you're here: the story!  
  
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The drive to the airport was quiet. Neither Scott nor Amy wanted to acknowledge what had happened back there in the hotel room; the awkwardness of the moment was simply too fresh. Also, in their insecurity, they both wondered if the other had even felt the awkward moment, so both were loathe to bring it up.  
  
Scott parked the car quietly in the airport terminal parking lot and Amy stubbornly helped him carry in his things inside. Neither said anything until he was standing in front of the gate he'd be leaving through, and the final boarding call came on.  
  
"So...," Amy started quietly and, unable to restrain himself, Raven leaped forward and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her shoulder, terrified to let go of her and acknowledge the fact of this moment: that he really was leaving.  
  
Lita held him tightly as well and they stood there a long moment, not caring about the other people in the terminal watching them. Scott stroked her hair absentmindedly, pulling her closer all the while.  
  
Finally, as if on some cue, they both pulled away at the same time.  
  
"Call me?" Lita asked quietly, as if she didn't quite believe he really would.  
  
He just nodded, afraid his voice would fail him. Wordlessly, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and walked away. Amy watched him until he rounded a corner and she could no longer see him.  
  
She walked out to the car and assured herself she was fine. By the time she was behind the driver's seat, she had let out a scream of loss and pain, and was crying in great hitching sobs, barely able to see where she was going, barely able to see the people gawking at the young woman crying her heart out in a rental car as she drove away from the airport.  
  
Scott sat down in his seat on the plane, convinced he was fine. He put his head against the window and stared out, without really seeing anything he was looking at. A stewardess came up and asked him if he needed anything, and when he opened his mouth to say he was all right, his voice broke, and soon everyone had politely turned their heads to look at the grown man who was crying like a child, crying as if he had just lost everything in the world.  
  
As far as Scott and Amy were both concerned, they had. 


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has been reviewing. It's just so cool to see how far my little baby first fan fic has come. tear As we say down here in the South, "Bless your hearts!" I'm going to try to take everyone's suggestions and incorporate them into how I write this fic. Thanks so much everyone. (To my new reviewer, Sparkles, welcome onboard, hope you like it!)  
  
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A good while after they had gone airborne, and after a good deal of embarrassment, Raven was finally able to calm himself enough to where he was merely weeping quietly. Even so, the businessman in the seat beside him seemed loathe to acknowledge his presence, undoubtedly convinced the guy crying next to him was on drugs or worse, maybe gay or something. The thought caused Raven to let out a cold, ironic laugh, totally devoid of joy or humor. "Go on back to your laptop, you hypocritical degenerate," he muttered, feeling a little bit more like himself. Emotional exhaustion had weared on him physically as well, and wrapping up in a blanket the kind stewardess had brought him, Scott reclined his chair and dropped into a still sleep.  
  
In the rental car, Amy was trying to drive with one hand and wipe her seemingly ceaseless tears with the other. She was shaking so hard it was hard to drive. She could find no word to define the overwhelming strength of her sadness, except perhaps "grief". True, it was not as if Scott had died, but still, the loss felt that sharp.  
  
All that kept running through her mind was that he was gone, he was really and truly gone. And there was no one she could even talk to about this pain; Scott was the one she talked to about everything. He was the one who made everything better. Why couldn't she see it before? It was no mere crush. She was in love with him, her best friend.  
  
"I would have told you if I'd thought it'd make you stay!" she sobbed loudly to the empty air inside the car. "I-I just couldn't believe you'd really leave me," she shouted. "I thought you could tell-I thought you could tell how much I needed you."  
  
"God, please bring him back to me somehow. I'll do anything...I promise, anything. God, bring him back. Bring him back. God bring him back." She said it over and over to herself like a mantra, meaning it with everything she had. "I'll do anything...God bring him back."  
  
As if in answer, Amy suddenly heard the shrill screech of skidding tires and instantly afterward the sound of glass breaking as she was shaken by the impact of the other car hitting hers.  
  
Twenty thousand feet in the air, Scott awoke with a start, startled to feel sweat beading on his forehead. He hugged the blanket up tighter under his chin.  
  
"God, if there's any way I can be with Amy, I'll do it. I know I blew it, but please give me another chance. I'll tell her this time. Please, give me one more chance to go back," he thought as he drifted back off to sleep. 


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Sorry for such a short chapter. But like I said, I divide them the way I think the story should be divided. I'll be posting the next chapter very soon, anyway, so I'm not trying to go cheap on ya'. ; ) (Thanks to Mandi C, and thanks to Tundra, another Raven fan, for being new reviewers! I know Tundra, I love him and miss him too! Oh well, there's always Total Nonstop Action on Wednesday nights, if you've got the ten bucks to fork over for it. Small sacrifice though, huh?)  
  
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Amy's forehead hit the steering wheel, hard, as the other car rear-ended her. "What the hell?" she muttered, sitting up and rubbing her aching head. Great, that was definitely going to bruise. She again heard the squeal of tires, and got out of the car just in time to see the other car speeding away from the scene of the accident.  
  
She stood there stunned, staring in the direction of the hit-and-run driver long after a crowd had gathered around her. They're voices flooded her ears with words, but she didn't pay attention to any of them.  
  
"Miss, are you all right? Should I call an ambulance?" "What happened? Was there an accident?" "Where's the other car?" "I saw the whole thing. I can't believe that big jerk just took off like that! Some people..." "Is your neck okay? Do you think you have whiplash?" "You should really get a doctor to check you out, just in case..." "Did anyone get that guy's license plate number? That's a felony, isn't it? Fleeing the scene of a crime?"  
  
Amy didn't hear anything they were saying. She could only stare off in the distance, at the place where she had last scene the other car.  
  
"It wasn't..." her mind was saying, over and over. "It wasn't him. It was just a trick of the light, or something, the sun glaring off the windshield. It wasn't him. Why would he be here? Unless..."  
  
The colder, less optimistic voice in her mind spoke up. "Unless he was following you."  
  
The airport police arrived, and Amy had to shake herself out of her thoughts, in order to tell them what had happened. She mentioned nothing about her nagging fear about the identity of the other car's driver. She instead told them it had happened too quickly for her to clearly see the other person, which was mostly true. She didn't tell them what she really knew.  
  
That it was Hunter who'd hit her from behind. 


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: I rented Total Nonstop Action on pay-per-view last night. It was utter heaven. The main event was Raven vs. Sandman in a "Raven's Clockword Orange House of Fun" match. (You'd have to have seen it to understand it. It was totally insane. The coolest "gimmick match" I've ever witnessed, and that includes Bischoff's Elimination Chamber.) Of course, our boy Raven won. I just wanted to let y'all in on that. Also, a shout-out to a new reviewer, Never Clever. (Yes, Raven is "bloody hot". lol) Sorry for the short chapter last time guys, hopefully this will make up for it. Onward!  
  
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Amy was silent the entire cab ride back to the hotel. She wore a bandage on her forehead the EMT workers had insisted they give her. The cut she'd had was small, but she knew from past experience that head wounds bled like crazy and the bandage had proven to be necessary. The driver of the cab kept checking on her in the rearview mirror.  
  
"Something on ya mind, lady? Ya feelin' all right? Ain't dizzy or nuthing, are ya'?"  
  
"I'm fine," she lied to him with a smile. "Still just a little shaken up, I guess." That part was at least somewhat true. Though she wasn't shaken up from the accident, at least not the physical part of it. The fact that Hunter had been following her was weighing heavily on her mind. She couldn't deny it to herself any longer; her eyes knew what they had seen. And it had been him, definitely, speeding away from the accident. There was no mistaking his profile, or his build. Anyway, even the car had looked like his.  
  
"Yeah, this one over here on the right. Thanks." Amy got out of the cab and went up to her room for her bags after making the driver promise to wait for her to get back down. Earlier, she had been planning on coming back and sleeping for a couple of hours before her flight, but with the delay caused by the accident and talking to the police, she now had time just to get her bags, turn around and go back.  
  
Walking slowly back through the parking lot with her heavy bags, she saw something that disturbed her even further, something she hadn't noticed earlier in the rush to get up to her room. A car that was unmistakably Hunter's, right down to the vanity license plate, with a broken headlight, and the front bumper dented in.  
  
Looking around herself quickly, hoping no one had noticed her staring, Lita hurried on with her luggage to the waiting taxi.  
  
A week passed, and Scott called Amy every other night, trying not to appear too desperate. He just couldn't go long without hearing her voice, though it was still no one near the same as actually being with her. Every time he called, Amy had the story about Hunter and the car on the tip of her tongue, but she'd always change the subject, afraid of acting paranoid and worrying Scott over nothing. Plus, she wouldn't be able to explain her fear without telling him the whole story of what had happened last year, and that was something she really didn't want to get into. Besides, she had other things on her mind now, too.  
  
Like the new storyline the writers were planning to put her in. She didn't know much about it, but it sounded like she'd have to split with the Hardys, which was sad. Also, she was planning on trying to find guest spots to do on t.v. shows.  
  
She was also spending a lot of time thinking about how Raven had ended their first phone call after he left.  
  
They had been right about to hang up, when all of a sudden he'd just said, right out of the blue, "I love you."  
  
She'd been too startled to say anything for a few seconds, and on the other end of the line, Scott was mentally kicking himself for his impulsiveness.  
  
"I love you, too," she said back softly. "I...I really miss you."  
  
"Yeah, I miss you," he agreed gently. "Talk to you later?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Now, he had been gone a whole week, though to Lita it felt like months. She packed her gymbag quietly, and left to go to the stadium where she'd be having her first ever RAW without Scott there. 


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Sorry I've been slow on updates, guys. I was in Greensboro (which probably means nothing to y'all non-North Carolinians) at the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament watching my girls, the Blue Devils whup up on some people. (Iciss, you still, and always will, rock.) I wish there was somewhere to write sports fan-fiction. lol Anyway, I'm here with another update. Please don't be mad that it took so long.  
  
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Walking through the stadium parking lot, Lita was startled by a deep voice behind her.  
  
"You look a little hassled there. Something on your mind?"  
  
She turned to see Hunter leaning up against what she assumed to be his car. It was obviously new, still had the dealer plates. He was looking at her with an odd expression, a cold, mocking parody of concern.  
  
"New car?" she choked out quietly.  
  
"Nice isn't it?" he asked, rubbing his hand along the perfectly shined hood. "My other one had a little bit of an...accident," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.  
  
"Oh...um...I need to go on...inside," she muttered, turning to make a quick get-away. Hunter grabbed her arm.  
  
"You don't need to go anywhere, and we both know it." His breath was hot beside her ear. "No one but you and the janitorial staff gets here this early, except for this convenient day when I just happened to be here as well, right when you suddenly don't have your little freak boyfriend here to watch your back."  
  
"He's not my boyfriend," Lita muttered defensively, trying to pull away.  
  
"That's great," Hunter laughed softly, holding her out by her shoulders at arm's length. "So you're single huh? Got any plans for tonight?"  
  
"None involving you," she said through clenched teeth, trying once again to jerk away.  
  
Hunter's mocking smile disappeared. All that showed through now was his glaring anger. "You don't want to make me angry," he said softly, tucking her hair back behind her ear so he could lightly graze the scar he'd left there a year ago with his knuckles. "Remember the last time you made me mad? I do."  
  
He pulled her towards him and bent his face down to hers. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to imagine she was anywhere but here, that it was anyone but him. That it was Scott. He tightened his grip on her shoulders, causing her to wince in pain, and the fantasy evaporated.  
  
Hunter's mouth crashed down on hers, seemingly drowning her, and she fought with all her strength to get away. Finally he stopped the abomination of a kiss, stroking her scar again with one huge finger.  
  
"See you tonight."  
  
He released her, and with a sob, Amy ran off into the building. 


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: My girls (Duke) won the ACC tournament, so that's over, and I'll have more time for writing now that I'm home. (Until the NCAA tournament two weeks from now...hee hee.) Thanks to new reviewer Shadow for, well, (duh), reviewing! I've got a lot of ideas for this story; I just hope I'll be able to update more frequently now that my schedule's back to normal. Okay, I'll quit with my sorry excuses for now and let us move on!  
  
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Lita was shaky and jumpy the whole time they were filming Heat. Not wanting to test the validity of Hunter's promise that he would "see her tonight", she decided to skip out before RAW went on, knowing that he would have to stay there until his main event match at the end of the show.  
  
When she got back to her hotel room, she stared for a long moment at the phone before finally picking it up and dialing Scott's number.  
  
"Hello?" he answered, sounding hurried.  
  
"Oh, if this is a bad time..." she started, but his voice immediately softened when he heard it was her.  
  
"No, I just didn't realize it was you," Scott assured her, and she could hear the smile in his voice. It's just that Jerry keeps calling me about our match tomorrow night; he's somehow convinced something's going to go wrong, but I've gone through a few tables before, I'm not worried."  
  
She laughed a little; something about him just always cheered her up. "A few? As in, what, six?"  
  
"Hey, it's not for you to worry about. So how are you? What's been going on?"  
  
Amy opened her mouth to tell him the whole story about how Triple H had been treating her, starting with the incident last year, but she somehow couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to tell him, wanted to more badly than anything, but she couldn't see the point. He obviously had a lot on his own mind right now, and anyway, he was a thousand miles away, so what could he do? All she would accomplish by telling him was making him angry and worried, which would help nothing. Instead, she turned the topic of the conversation to something else she had been thinking about a lot lately.  
  
"Um...you know how the past couple of weeks...you know, when we've been talking...and then we say goodbye...we started saying...you know..." On her end of the phone, Lita blushed and twirled the phone cord awkwardly.  
  
"'I love you?'" he helped, in just as shy and awkward a voice.  
  
"Um...yeah. I just wanted, you know, to make sure we were on the same page, and everything." "Meaning, I want to make sure I'm not jumping to conclusions," she thought to herself.  
  
On his end of the phone line, Raven was mentally kicking himself. "She knows. She knows, and she's trying to let me down easy because we're friends, but I've made it awkward for her." Trying to save face, he answered, "I mean, you know...we've been friends a long time...and I miss you, so...I didn't think there was any big deal, you know...saying it."  
  
"Great," he told himself. "That's the way to win a girl's heart; 'any big deal'. Real smooth."  
  
Amy felt her heart drop, though it was a disappoint she had been expecting. She gave a nervous little laugh. "Oh, I know, I was just making sure, because...you know..."  
  
"Yeah," he tried to laugh himself, and it sounded depressingly forced. "I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression." "Or the right one," he thought.  
  
"Sure, no problem," Amy responded, and the forced lightness between them was very tense. "Well, I'll let you go..."  
  
"It's no problem," he tried to tell her, but it came out weakly.  
  
"I've got stuff I need to do, too," she assured him, in all actuality just trying to find a way to get off the phone before she broke into sobs. "I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Okay. Bye-" By the time he'd gotten the last word out, she'd already hung up. He sat down on the couch, and rested his head in his hands.  
  
A thousand miles away, Amy hung up the phone and tried to wipe away the tears that were too quickly filling her eyes. 


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: Nothing much here, guys. Really, I got nothing.  
  
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Amy sat listlessly in her hotel room. She had RAW on, but her mind really wasn't on it; she was concerned with more important matters. Like her misinterpretations of what Scott said, and her worry for him. She knew the style of wrestling he was doing right now was a lot more dangerous than anything in WWE. When people pay-per-viewed a 2 hour wrestling show for $10 a week, well...you'd better give them a show. And she knew Scott would, which was precisely what she was worried about.  
  
Her eyes drifted to the t.v. screen. Evolution was walking out to the ring, which meant it was time for the main event. Triple H versus Steiner. Again.  
  
She sighed and reached for the remote. She switched the t.v. off, and sank back onto the bed, drowning in her thoughts. She drifted off somewhere between sleep and consciousness, and had a half-waking nightmare, more like a very clear memory, of her encounter with Hunter that afternoon. An ominous thought startled her wide awake.  
  
"See you tonight."  
  
"He's been following me..." she thought. "He'll know where I am...oh my God."  
  
Amy quickly gathered her things together, grabbed her room key and rushed down to the front desk.  
  
"I'm sorry, I know this is going to sound really weird," she said, trying to give the desk clerk a reassuring smile. "But would it be possible for me to rent another hotel room?"  
  
"Is there something wrong with the room you're in?" the woman ask concernedly.  
  
"Oh, not at all," Lita kept the fake smile plastered in place. "It's just that, well..."  
  
"Well, what?" she thought to herself. "I think one of the biggest wrestlers in our business is stalking me, so I'm going to run like a scared little girl? That'll go over well with her...So think, Lita, what is it?"  
  
"I have a friend coming in!" she blurted out. "And I'd like to get him a room here, if you have one." The lie came out more easily than she had expected it would, and was pleased to see the woman's face light up with understanding.  
  
"Absolutely! In fact, the room right next to yours is empty. I'll book it right now."  
  
Before Lita could think of a reason to protest, the friendly woman was already punching numbers into the computer. She would have liked a room farther away from where Hunter would be coming, but at least maybe now she'd truly know what would have happened had she just stayed in place. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she'd just go back to the room, raid the minibar in spite of herself, and watch some t.v. until she fell asleep. Maybe...  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hotel front doors swing open. Hunter had his head turned and was talking to Shane McMahon. He hadn't seen her yet, but if he looked around just the slightest little bit...  
  
"That room will be great. Thanks," she said quickly, practically throwing her credit card at the woman to pay for the extra room. She signed the receipt quickly, and rushed up to the room, practically running once she was out of the lobby and out of view for Triple H. When she got to the room, she locked herself inside, dropping her bags and panting, more from excitement than lack of breath.  
  
She waited there a few minutes, sitting on the bed, until she heard what she first took as a knocking on her own door. She soon realized it was at the door to the room beside her. Pressing her ear to the door, she heard Hunter's voice.  
  
"I know you're in there. Come on, just let me in so we can talk." His voice dropped lower, became almost confidential. "You dropped your spare room key today, when you ran off in the parking lot. Open the door, and it will be easier for you. I promise."  
  
Inside her own room, Amy had begun to shake without realizing it. She tasted salt, and realized tears were running down her face. She bit her lip to hold in a sob.  
  
"All right," she heard his gravelly voice again. "I'm coming in."  
  
There was a slam as she heard the door slam over. Then, somewhat muffled because of the wall between them, Hunter's indignant shout when he found the room empty.  
  
"That's it," she assured herself. "He didn't find me, he'll leave, go sleep if off somewhere or go get mindlessly drunk. He'll get over it, and move on."  
  
But then she heard a crash from the room next to her, and something that sounded heavy bang on the wall, and then a sound like glass breaking.  
  
Hardly aware of what she was doing, Amy backed into the corner of her room, hugging knees drawn up to her chest, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut like a small child.  
  
"He's trashing the room. He's really that crazy. He's taking it out on the room. The anger he has for me. What's going to happen when he sees me again? If that's what he's doing to the room, what will he do to me?"  
  
She stayed in that spot long after the noises from the room over had ceased, and fell into a fitful sleep, curled up there in the corner, as the tears still streaked her face and dampened her hair. 


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: I can't say I'll be updating as often over the next week. My best friend is flying in from Oklahoma tomorrow, so I'll probably be spending as much time as possible with him while he's on spring break. (me=very happy) So, forgive me in advance, okay? Please? Plus, I'm really sorry this took so long to update, but for some reason my computer wouldn't let me log into the website. Alas.  
  
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Amy made a decision as she was packing her things to check out of the hotel the next morning. It was confirmed as she found herself looking both ways down the hall before she left the room. She was going to tell Scott about Hunter. She didn't have a choice. She couldn't keep living in fear.  
  
She found herself looking back over her shoulder as she checked out at the front desk. She stiffened when she saw Hunter standing in the lobby, but assured herself he wouldn't do anything; there were too many people around. She felt him looking at her, but she could see in her peripheal vision that he had not moved.  
  
She picked up her bags, and walked quickly out to the rental car that would drive her to the airport.  
  
Amy called Scott as soon as she had settled in back at home.  
  
"Hello?" he answered.  
  
Upon hearing his voice, Lita broke down completely. She tried to answer, but her voice seemed to have stopped working, and all she could do was cry.  
  
"Amy?" The concern in his voice only made it worse, and she began to sob.  
  
"Amy?" He was practically screaming. "What's wrong? Calm down, okay? Just tell me what's going on. Where are you?"  
  
"I'm at home," she choked out. "Everything's fine...I mean, right now. It's...it's such a long story."  
  
"I've got time."  
  
She took a deep breath, and began her story.  
  
"You remember a year ago...when I got a little banged up..."  
  
"I've never forgotten," he answered, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to suppress the rage he felt coursing through him. What he didn't tell her that he wanted to, was that she'd been more than just "a little banged up". She'd been beaten, and badly.  
  
"Well," she continued on. "You know I never told you how it happened because, I guess I thought it was an isolated incident, and I didn't want you to try to do something and get hurt..."  
  
"It's my business to decide whether or not I want to risk injury."  
  
"I know...but I just couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt because of me, but...let's not get into this again, okay? Let me finish the story before you get all mad again."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry," he answered softly.  
  
"Okay...so don't freak out just yet..." She took another shaky breath. It was like reliving all of the pain and shame all over again. "Hunter-"  
  
The hiss as he drew in his breath angrily was audible even over the phone.  
  
"...Hunter cornered me backstage one night and came on to me. I think he'd been drinking, but anyway, I shot him down, and he got mad...and...well, you saw what happened because of it."  
  
"So...what's he done now?"  
  
"He's been threatening me, and following me..."  
  
"I'll kill him."  
  
"Please just let me finish?" she whispered.  
  
"There's more?" He sounded completely shocked.  
  
"He caught me out in the parking lot last night." This was so hard. She knew Scott would fly off the handle, but she had to tell him. She had no one else to go to, and she couldn't keep feeling so alone in this. "He promised he'd see me last night. He got my extra room key, and used it to break in."  
  
"What happened?" Raven's voice was total iron, but she could hear his fear for her underlying it.  
  
"I'd gotten out before. I didn't want to take any risks, so I got another room. I was actually in the room next door, so I heard everything that happened."  
  
"No one was in there, so how could anything have happened?"  
  
"He's crazy. I mean it, he's really crazy. He totally trashed the room. Everything. He was in there at least two hours. I don't know what he'll do now. I don't want to go to the show Monday. I can't face him."  
  
On the other end of the line, Scott was literally shaking with fury and terror. She was in danger, though at least now she would finally acknowledge it. She was in danger and...she needed him.  
  
"I'll be there for you," he thought to himself, but instead just asked her quietly, "What city are you going to be in next?"  
  
"Bakersfield."  
  
"Perfect," he said decisively. "We're in Sacramento two days before. I'm going with you."  
  
"To RAW?"  
  
"Of course." His voice left no room for argument.  
  
"What-what are you planning to do?"  
  
"Hey," he tried to sound reassuring. "Do I need a reason to want to spend time with my best friend?"  
  
"I know better," she said tiredly, but he could hear a little bit of her old humor coming through. "I'll see you then, I guess."  
  
"Definitely. Be careful. Enjoy your time at home."  
  
"You too. I mean it; you be careful. Don't do anything too stupid at the show."  
  
"Me?" He laughed a little. "Never. Now go get yourself some sleep."  
  
"You should too. Goodnight."  
  
"'Night."  
  
Instead of sleeping, Lita lay in bed a long time, worrying about what Scott would do when he saw Hunter again.  
  
In his own bedroom, Scott slowly put down the phone and looked up. His reflection stared back at him from the mirror. Anger at Hunter and himself for not being there to help boiled over in him, and before he realized what was happening, his fist had shattered the mirror to a thousand pieces. 


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: As I said earlier, due to my friend being in town and the screwed-up mess that's happening with the site, updates are going to be slightly delayed. Please bear with me guys; I'm trying!  
  
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As agreed, Amy and Scott met up in the parking lot of the stadium early before the show the next week. One look at her, and he felt a sob catch in the back of his throat as traitorous tears filled his eyes. He could hardly believe it was Amy he was looking at. She looked so small...so defeated, somehow. It hurt him just to look at her and see how much she had diminished. Unable to control himself, he reached out the long distance of the two feet between them and pulled her into his arms. She sank against him, feeling safer than she had in a long time. Scott held her tightly, terrified to let her go, terrified she would fade away from him.  
  
He finally pulled back and looked into her brown eyes. She looked so scared, and so lost. Her eyes were fixed on him, begging for comfort. He placed a warm, roughened hand softly against her cheek.  
  
"It's okay," he whispered, his voice somewhere between velvet and gravel. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You know that."  
  
Amy found his other hand and held it between both of hers. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid?"  
  
"Me?" he tried to laugh. "Of course not. Don't worry about a thing."  
  
Daring greatly, he tentatively leaned forward and kissed the top of her head.  
  
Inside herself, Amy sighed in disappointment. When he had leaned over her like that, her heart had jumped, hoping for one split second he might actually kiss her. And then his lips had landed on her forehead, just a simple little show of affection from a friend. "Or a brother," she thought bitterly.  
  
Releasing her hand, Scott picked up Amy's gymbag despite her protests, and they walked toward the stadium. To Amy, the air felt filled with electricity, tense in some odd way she could not describe. Or maybe it was just her excitement from the moment before, or nervousness about facing Hunter. But she could not shake the paranoid feeling that there would be a huge confrontation tonight.  
  
Unburdened by carrying anything, Amy walked slightly faster and a few feet ahead of Scott, reaching the stadium door first. So she appeared alone when she stepped inside.  
  
"You stood me up the other night," she heard a low voice tease, but there was no humor in it, only malice.  
  
She looked up to see Hunter leaning against the wall where he had undoubtedly been waiting for her.  
  
Amy lifted her head and looked at him defiantly, trying to appear fearless though she was sure he would notice how badly her legs were shaking. "Leave me the hell alone."  
  
"Excuse me?" He walked threateningly towards her. The stadium door swung open, and Raven stepped inside. He took one look at Hunter and his jaw set and his eyes flared with an uncontainable rage. 


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: So sorry about the delay in updating, guys. I've been hanging out with my friend who's in from Oklahoma, but I've got some free time now.  
  
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Raven took a step towards Hunter, his hand having already automatically balled itself into a fist. His eyes were locked onto his target, and he could see clearly Hunter's shock and fear, though he tried to mask it with big talk.  
  
"This your little guard dog?" he addressed Amy. "Is this the big tough guy who's going to stand up for you? This your knight in shining armor? You're going to have to do a lot better than that."  
  
Before he could move, Amy planted herself in between the two men, facing Scott. She tried to hold him back, to keep him from attacking Hunter. He looked down at her with confusion plainly written on his face, it was like she could hear him audibly thinking, "Why not?"  
  
"Please don't," she begged him, tears streaking her face. "Not right now."  
  
As soon as he saw her face, his anger broke completely. All he felt was concern for Amy. If he fought Hunter now, with her and no one else here, she might get hurt. Also, he'd get kicked out before the show, and then she would be left with this lunatic for hours without him here to protect her. Amy seemed to be having similar thoughts.  
  
She leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Later," she said softly. "After the show. It's too dangerous right now." She sighed, her voice watery with tears before she spoke the last sentence. "I don't want you to get hurt."  
  
"I won't," he murmured into her ear. "It's okay."  
  
He wrapped her up tightly in his arms and held her against his chest. His desire to destroy Hunter had not vanished, but it was no longer manifest so strongly. It was lingering down inside of him, waiting. Right now, his primary purpose was to shield the woman he was holding from any harm.  
  
Hunter laughed derisively. "Oh, are you gonna hold him back? I guess this is my lucky night then, huh? I don't have to worry about getting my ass kicked by the big superstar Raven."  
  
Scott looked at him from over the top of Amy's head, and the rage momentarily re-flared in his eyes. But then he felt Amy shivering against him, and his thoughts were again consumed with her care and safety. "Your time is coming," he said lowly, and his voice was the coldest ice. Hunter opened his mouth to say something sarcastic in reply, but something in Raven's eyes sent a chill up his spine, and he snapped it closed again. Nodding his head and pretending to smirk, he walked away. 


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Again, I must apologize for the delays in updating lately. I know how ticked off I get when a story I'm reading isn't updated very frequently, and it sucks. Anyway, moving onward.  
  
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Raven never left Lita's side until the moment the show began. Even as she was filming Heat, he stayed right at the stage entrance so that he was as close as possible to her without being visible. About half-way through the show, his old friend from ECW, Tommy Dreamer came up behind the curtain, preparing for his following match.  
  
"Hey man, what's going on?" he asked quietly. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Scott turned to give his friend a sad smile. "You don't want to know."  
  
"It's got something to do with your girl, doesn't it?"  
  
"My girl?" His face was carefully blank.  
  
Tommy's eyes never left his face, and he nodded slowly. "Yeah, your girl. I've known you for years, Scotty, don't try to pull that one on me. And don't try to pull any of your other crap here, either."  
  
"What are you talking about Tommy?"  
  
"You don't know?" His voice had a slight edge of anger to it. "Scott, you've got everyone here thinking you left because of air-time, because you'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than vice versa. But I know you better than that Scotty..." Tommy's voice had gotten a little sad. "You left because of her," he nodded his head toward the curtain which currently shielded Lita from their view. "It hurt too much to be around her all the time and just be friends. So you ran off, not even thinking about all the other people you were hurting."  
  
Raven's low voice nearly broke. "I didn't mean to, Tommy. I was really just thinking about myself, huh?"  
  
His friend shrugged a little. "It's understandable, I guess. But can I ask you something?"  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Hasn't it been even worse? Being away from her?"  
  
Scott almost laughed at how well his friend knew him. "More than you can imagine."  
  
"Then come back," Tommy pleaded. "Drop all this stubborn pride crap. Talk to Vince; y'all work it out. You're going to have to eat some crow, but deal with it. We miss you man."  
  
"Yeah, I miss you guys, too." He looked up at his friend and smiled a little. "I'll think about that."  
  
"Good. Oh, and you never answered my question. Just what exactly are you doing here?"  
  
Any trace of a smile disappeared from Raven's face. "You don't want to know. It's better for you if you don't know."  
  
"Something to do with Amy, huh?" Tommy asked quietly. Raven nodded, but didn't say a word. "Hunter been giving her a hard time?"  
  
Scott looked up at him, startled. "How'd you know?"  
  
Tommy shrugged and ran one hand through his hair. "I guess I should have figured it out by now. It's definitely obvious he's a little obsessed with her; you can tell by the way he looks at her and seems to follow her around. But I haven't actually seen him do anything, so it was never really my place to address it." Seeing Scott's pained, angry expression he asked, "Is it bad?"  
  
"Very."  
  
"Then don't worry, man," he assured him, clapping him on the back and preparing to run out for his match. "I've got your back. I'm here for you." He peeked through the curtain to where Amy sat at the announcer's table, and looked back to Scott. "Both of you." 


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: Is this actually a timely update? Wow, a miracle! I think it's amusing how my senioritis is so bad that the only actual work I do is fan-fiction. Shows how much I love you guys, I guess. ; )  
  
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Scott was waiting right backstage for Amy as soon as Heat was over. She could tell right away from his set expression that something was up.  
  
"Scott, is something wrong?"  
  
"Amy, I think you should leave."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
He nearly faltered under her intense gaze. Even with being about half a foot shorter, she could be pretty intimidating at times. "I just don't think you should be around when me and Tommy do what we have to do. I think it's better if-"  
  
"Tommy? What about Tommy? Did you tell him something? Isn't this more of my business than of his?"  
  
"I didn't tell Tommy anything," he tried to console her. "He figured it out. He said it was 'pretty obvious'." Now it was his turn to raise his voice. "God, Lita, how long has this been going on? Why wouldn't you ask anyone for help?"  
  
"I thought I could take care of it myself," she stated weakly. "I was wrong, okay? I'm sorry."  
  
Scott immediately softened, chiding himself for being such an idiot and getting mad at her. None of this was her fault. "Hey, Li, I'm sorry," he murmured, pulling her into a hug. "You don't have anything to apologize for. I'm not upset with you; I never could be. You know that right?" He paused for a moment to pull back a bit and look into her eyes. "I'm just so angry right now. I didn't mean to take it out on you. And..." He lowered his voice a little bit where only she could hear. "I guess I'm scared. I just don't want you to get hurt. And that's why I think it'd be better if you would go on ahead back to the hotel room and wait there. Plus, that way, you could deny you even knew what was going to happen and you won't get into any trouble."  
  
Amy took a deep breath and backed a step or two away from him. "Yeah, you're right." She looked up and smiled at him apologetically. "Not that it matters or that I care, but you're right, I'll admit that. Though you should know I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Scott sighed. "Yeah, I know."  
  
"We're agreed then?"  
  
"Agreed," he resigned.  
  
"Good," she reached out and sarcastically shook his hand. At that moment, Tommy walked up.  
  
"Resolving a lovers' quarrel?" he remarked to Scott.  
  
Raven lightly smacked him in the head and Amy turned away blushing. Tommy looked at her very seriously.  
  
"Hey Amy, I'm so sorry," he told her. "I didn't have any idea. If I'd known, you wouldn't have had to call Scottie-boy here. I could have been your knight in shining armor," he teased.  
  
"Um, Tommy, I think knights carry swords, not singapore canes. Anyway," she shrugged, tossing her hair back over her shoulders. "You still have the opportunity to come to my rescue if you want to. Though I can't promise there will be much left of Hunter by the time I'm through with him. With you two guys as back-up, I'm not the least bit afraid of taking him on."  
  
"You're going to be here?" Tommy addressed the question more to Raven, who nodded resignedly. "You know there's no arguing with the woman," he admitted. "That's what we were resolving when you came up."  
  
Tommy shrugged in a gesture that very much said "oh well". "I guess that's decided, then. So are we just hanging around until after the show?"  
  
Amy nodded. "But I think I have an idea on how we can make this work perfectly." 


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Geez, it's always so hard when you get near the ending. All this build-up...expectations running high...so much pressure. :scream: I hope this doesn't prove to be too anti-climatic or anything. Oh, and just a little warning...I hate Scott Steiner. Don't expect to hear me say anything nice about him, ever. However, I'm trying to tone down my hatred because it's not central to this story so, if I say anything offensive, please just bear with me.  
  
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RAW ended with yet another painfully boring Triple H versus Scott Steiner showdown. After the flexing and push-ups were over, Hunter made his way backstage to shower and change clothes, nervously glancing over his shoulder every once and awhile expecting to see Raven prepared to jump him. When the other wrestler proved nowhere to be found, he smiled and thought cockily, "All talk and no show. He probably ran out with his little girlfriend hours ago."  
  
About half-an-hour later walking out to his car, Hunter was more than surprised to see Amy standing there alone in the parking lot. She didn't run or even back away when he walked up, only looked a little nervous as she stood her ground.  
  
"Hey Hunter, can we talk?"  
  
"Not so tough now, without your little guard dog around, are you?" he snapped, but his eyes slid from side to side just to make sure Raven was nowhere nearby. "I thought you wanted me to leave you the hell alone."  
  
"Please, I just need to talk to you." She tried to back up as he came to stand directly in front of her and found herself trapped between him and his car. She took a shaky breath, and thought to herself, "It's okay if you're nervous. That's what he wants to see. That's what he expects. It's better this way; he'll never know what's coming." He leaned his face down so that his forehead was resting against hers. "All right, then what did you want to talk about?"  
  
Amy squeezed her eyes shut, disgusted to see his face so near hers. Even though this was all part of the plan, she couldn't help but be intimidated by him. "All the more reason to see this thing through," she thought, but instead said to him, "Well, it's about Scott."  
  
He twirled a strand of her red hair around one finger, obviously not paying much attention to her words. "What about Scott?"  
  
She struggled to hide her revulsion at having him this close. "Well," she swallowed, prepared to feel his anger, "Vince re-hired him tonight."  
  
"What?" Hunter grabbed her shoulders and slammed her back against the car. From his hiding place behind a car a few spaces away, Scott made a move to attack Hunter pre-emptively. Tommy grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. "Not yet. Not if you want this to work."  
  
From her position pinned against the door of the car, Amy was trying to reason with Hunter. "Look, I just want us to put all this behind us. Promise me you'll leave Scott alone, and I won't mention any of what's happened, not to Vince, or anyone."  
  
"Vince?" Hunter half laughed/half shouted, slamming her against the car again, harder this time. Amy winced as she felt a metal edge cut into her shoulder blades. "You expect Vince to even listen to you, much less believe you? Have you forgotten who the star of this company is?" He laughed at her again, heartlessly. "Have you forgotten that I've got daddy's little girl wrapped around my finger? I'm untouchable. You're nothing to this company."  
  
Inside herself, Amy smiled. "Just what I wanted to hear," she thought, but didn't say a word. Feeling even more cocky, Hunter went on.  
  
"You've deserved everything that's happened to you. You deserve that scar on your face," he touched the faded line running down her cheek, right near her ear where his ring had cut her during that first encounter so long ago. "You deserved that car getting wrecked; you deserved that hotel room getting trashed." His voice dropped a little lower. "You deserve whatever happens to you tonight for crossing me again, and whatever happens to your little buddy Raven for getting in my way."  
  
She smiled, and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "And you deserve this." With that said, she kneed him firmly in the crotch. 


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: Sitting here, home sick from school. Should be resting, (especially after staying up to watch all of Wrestlemania last night), but the computer kept calling my name. Sorry for the short chapter, but I break them up how I think the story calls for. Thanks for all the reviews, and just so you know, I don't condone violence or revenge in the real world. That's why I get all of it out in my fan-fics. writing=outlet Please, do not attempt anything that you read in these stories at home.  
  
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Apart from the obvious pain, Hunter's eyes registered shock and surprise. The look he gave Amy made it quite clear that he had not expected her to defend herself. He gasped for air a couple of times, and straightened himself up a little, glaring at her all the while. "You'll regret that," he rasped out, and lunged for her.  
  
"I doubt it," Amy murmured as Tommy and Raven grabbed Hunter from behind, using his own momentum to knock him off-balance and throw him to the ground. He landed flat on his back on the concrete. In a second, Raven was on top of him.  
  
"I should beat you senseless for what you've done," Scott hissed, inches from his face. "Right now, I feel like I could easily kill you and walk away with a clear conscience." He looked over his shoulder to where Tommy and Lita stood watching him a little apprehensively. "But I won't. I've got something better for you in mind."  
  
Kneeling on either side of him, Raven and Tommy pinned Hunter's shoulders to the ground. Lita walked over and knelt down beside his head. As she addressed him, her voice was calm and even.  
  
"You'll never touch me again. You'll never intimidate me again. In fact, after this moment, I will never even have to see you again and you will pass completely out of my thoughts. I will never think of you for a moment, but I'm sure there will be many times when you think of me, and regret what you've put me through." She stood up, and Scott and Tommy stood with her, releasing their enemy. Hunter stood shakily to his feet.  
  
"And how do you plan to accomplish that?" he asked, trying to sound brave now that the two furious men were a safer distance away.  
  
"Quite easily," Vince said as he stepped out from his hiding place a few cars down. The other three turned and smiled at him. Vince however, was furious as he regarded the young man he had once held so much esteem for. His gravelly voice was filled with pure hatred. "You tried to squirm your way into my family. You used my daughter, and just to use me. You dared to think you could screw over the McMahons, but do you want to know something? You have no place in this company anymore." Then he said the two words that no one can say quite like Vince McMahon.  
  
"You're fired." 


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Mad thanks to new reviewer Rayne for the awesome thing she sent me. Well guys, I have to let you know, I'm about to undergo a milestone in my life. This Saturday, I'm going to meet the Hardy Boyz at a book signing. The day I achieved my life dream and met Lita was the best day of my life; I'm expecting this to be pretty high up on the list as well. Hopefully, however, I will do as I did when I met my idol Amy Dumas and nearly pass out from hyperventilation. (No joke; the people working the signing were all freaked out because I'd stopped breathing and kept trying to calm me down...kinda embarrassing, to tell you the truth.) Sorry, I'm getting a little short-winded just thinking about meeting her...I'll continue on now.  
  
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Hunter's eyes were wide with terror. "Fired? Vince...come on. Fired? Isn't that a little harsh?"  
  
Vince got up in his face and snarled, "Get out of my sight or you'll find out soon enough what harsh is."  
  
Hunter backed up, intimidated. When he was a safe distance away, he shouted back, "You'll regret this. This company can't survive without me. I can find work anywhere I want."  
  
"Where, WCW?" Vince mocked as Hunter stalked off. "I'll give you a news flash...there IS nowhere else to work." He glanced over to Raven and smiled, "No offense to your old NWA stomping grounds."  
  
Scott laughed. "None taken. I'll miss them, but, it's really good to be back. Thank you for the second chance, sir."  
  
Vince smiled a little more warmly, abandoning his on-air "Mr. McMahon" persona. "The company's glad to have you back. And once you explained your reasoning, I understood perfectly why you left. Let's just put it in the past."  
  
"Reasoning?" Amy questioned, raising an eyebrow at Scott. "Later," he mouthed to her. Vince caught the little interaction, but ignored it, instead addressing Lita.  
  
"If you want to press charges or anything like that, we can put company lawyers on it."  
  
She shook her head and smiled at him. "Thank you sir, but let's just put it in the past." Vince nodded approvingly.  
  
"Very understandable. Well, I need to be leaving. You all have a nice night." He swaggered away off to his car. As soon as he was out of earshot, Amy turned to Scott again.  
  
"Reasoning?"  
  
"Later," he told her exasperated. "Why don't we all go out and celebrate or something?"  
  
"Fine," she laughed. "But you're not allowed to get as drunk as last time. You're not spending the night in my hotel room again."  
  
"Whoa, how did I never hear about this?" Tommy interrupted, easily misinterpreting the conversation.  
  
Amy rolled her eyes at him. "Not like that."  
  
"Actually," Scott cut in, shooting a glare at Tommy, "I was thinking maybe we could just go grab some pizza or something."  
  
"Fine with me," Amy agreed.  
  
"I'm in," added Tommy.  
  
"Okay then," Raven said, calming down a bit. "Let's get out of here." 


	22. Chapter 22

Author's Note: Met the Hardy Boyz. No words to describe how much more beautiful they are in person. Must write to get my mind off of it.  
  
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They all piled into Raven's rental car, opting to stay together as much as possible after the highly emotional night. They found a dimly lit little pizzeria and squeezed into a booth in the back corner, talking and laughing as if nothing serious had happened.  
  
Tommy couldn't help but notice how openly protective Scott was over Amy now. He'd made Tommy nervous on the ride over with the way he seemed to always be sneaking a glance at her, instead of watching the road. And now, as they were sitting in the booth, he was almost staring at her continually. Tommy nearly burst out laughing at the nervous look in his friend's eyes as he casually rested his arm on the back of the booth over Amy. Scott must have seen a little bit of laughter in Tommy's eyes though, because he shot him a half-angry/half-embarrassed glare.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing." Tommy bit his lip to keep the chuckle in. Amy looked back and forth at the two men who had started acting like high school boys again. "Are you guys keeping something from me?" she questioned, trying to sound dangerous.  
  
"Not me," Tommy answered her, silently laughing at the blush which was barely visible on Scott's face, thanks to the dim lighting. Fortunately, they were all saved by the arrival of the waitress.  
  
"What are you guys drinking tonight?" she smiled sweetly.  
  
"Nothing," Tommy joked, gesturing to the empty table. "That's why we have to tell you what we want to order."  
  
The waitress smiled again, but looked a little irritated. "Haha...right. So what would you like to order then?" She did not appear to favor Tommy's sense of humor.  
  
"I'd like a Sprite," Tommy answered. Amy opened her mouth to order, but Scott interrupted, "She wants a cherry coke. And I-" This time, she interrupted him. "He wants a sweet tea." The waitress scrawled the orders down and walked off. Tommy rolled his eyes at the pair sitting across from him.  
  
"What?" it was Lita's turn to ask.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all," said Tommy, fighting the urge to shout, "Do you two really not get it?!?! Seriously, just tell each other the truth and get it done with already?!?!" He sighed, and shook his head. "Nothing."  
  
"Sorry," Amy muttered. "No need to get all repetetive on me."  
  
An awkward silence settled over the table. It was fortunately broken by the waitress returning with their drinks.  
  
"So are you guys ready to order?" she asked, glaring at Tommy as if she expected another smart reply. He opened his mouth to fire another comeback, but cut himself short, shaking his head. He glanced across the table. "What do you want Scottie-boy?"  
  
He consulted the menu a minute before replying, "The meat lover's sound good to you two?"  
  
Lita shrugged. "That's fine."  
  
"You know me bro, up for whatever." Tommy tipped a wink at the waitress, who stalked off in disgust. Tommy watched her walk away, feigning lovesickness. "Think I got a chance with her?"  
  
Amy laughed. "I think I have more of a chance than you do."  
  
"Now THAT," Tommy teased, "I'd like to see." He smirked to see Raven blushing again.  
  
"Don't get your hopes up. Scott here's the one who gets drunk and does crazy things." The smile momentarily vanished from her face as she thought about his proposal so long ago. "Just another endearing moment with 'my best friend'," she thought bitterly.  
  
"Crazy things?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Please ma'am, don't embarrass me," Scott begged her, tightening his arm around her shoulders a little bit.  
  
Barely aware of her actions, she snuggled into him. "Oh, I think we can keep what happened in the hotel room a secret," she teased.  
  
The awkwardness of the moment struck them both at once, as they both realized this could definitely be classified as flirting. They pulled away from each other and slid to the opposite ends of the booth.  
  
"I guess I don't want to know, do I?" Tommy murmured as the waitress arrived with the pizzas. 


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note: I guess I'm writing this as a *bonus* update chapter or whatever, since I'm desperate to finish this story before I leave for Atlanta. Hate to keep you guys hanging, you know? Okay, here goes. Sorry last chapter was so slow. Hoping to speed things up.  
  
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They stayed at the restaurant a long time, eating pizza and talking and laughing about old times. The events of that night, or the last few weeks, were not mentioned once.  
  
Over an hour later, they finally asked for their bill and left the restaurant. The guys insisted on paying for it. "Come on," Tommy complained, "let us be knights on white horses every once in a while."  
  
Amy finally consented, and they rode back to the parking lot for Tommy to pick up his car. Amy left her car to pick up the next morning, feeling too tired and overwhelmed by the day's events to drive, and Raven gave her a ride back to the hotel.  
  
They didn't say much as he walked her up to her room. They simply strode the narrow halls very close to each other, and when Amy felt his fingers brush against hers, she took his hand willingly.  
  
They walked hand-in-hand through the lobby. When Scott headed toward the elevators, Amy tugged him softly in the other direction, and he quietly consented. They walked a few flights up the stairs before Amy stopped and looked at him. "We need to talk, don't we?" he asked quietly, and she nodded.  
  
They sat down side-by-side on the steps. Amy leaned her head over on Scott's shoulder, and he let out a shaky sigh. "Do you want to start, or am I?" he asked.  
  
"You," she whispered.  
  
He folded his hands in front of him, and stared at them for a minute, trying to find his words. In the end, he just decided to wing it.  
  
"Amy, we've been friends for a long time. In fact, I'd probably call you my best friend. But some time ago, I realized you meant more to be than that. And I felt like it hurt too much to just be your friend anymore." He sighed and shook his head. "So I took the easy way out. I ran away. I abandoned you and everyone else. It was selfish, and I'm sorry. And I just want to be your friend again."  
  
He turned to look at her, their faces inches apart. "My turn?" Amy asked, keeping her voice quiet and even. Scott nodded, and she hesitantly began.  
  
"I figured it out a while back that I cared about you as more than my best friend. But then, all of a sudden," Amy's voice broke, and tears streamed down her face. "You left, and I didn't even have a best friend anymore. And now you're here, and I'm just terrified you're going to somehow leave again."  
  
Scott's heart broke to see her cry. His large, rough hands gently wiped her tears from her cheek, and his strong arms held her softly. She leaned into him, continuing to cry, the months of stress finally taking its toll. Finally, doing the only thing he could think to do to make her sobs stop, Scott kissed her.  
  
It was a soft, gentle, careful kiss, brief and sweet. Lita's eyes stared into his, and never breaking gaze, he kissed the places where her tears had fallen on her cheeks softly. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. Taking a deep shaky breath, he whispered, "I love you."  
  
She smiled through her tears, and kissed him once, quickly. "I love you."  
  
He laughed, crying a little, and asked, "So is this conversation through then?", and she giggled with him. "I guess so." She paused, and nibbled her lower lip, still keeping her forehead touching his. "Stay with me tonight." She interrupted him when he opened his mouth to protest. "To sleep," she corrected. "I doubt you've even found I room yet, I know you don't have reservations, and..." She shrugged, breaking eye contact with him for a second. "I don't want to be alone tonight."  
  
He nodded slowly, thinking about what the last few weeks must have been like for her. "Of course I will. You know I'd love to."  
  
He stood up, and helped her to her feet. "Lead the way, m'lady." 


	24. Chapter 24

Author's Note: I think this is the end. It's been a fun ride. Thanks for all y'all's support. Take care, now.  
  
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They walked into the hotel room, Amy yelling over her shoulder, "Make yourself comfortable," as she went into the bathroom to change into some pajamas. "'Make yourself comfortable'?" Scott thought. "She certainly leaves some room for interpretation."  
  
He finally decided keeping his t-shirt and boxers on would be both safe and comfortable. Just as a pre-caution, he was already snuggled underneath the covers when Amy re-emerged from the bathroom. She looked pretty modest as well, in a tank top (with obviously some sort of sports bra beneath it) and shorts. She was smiling as she snuggled in beside him under the covers.  
  
She lay her head on his chest and felt almost rocked to sleep by the steady rhythm of his breathing, lullabied by his heartbeat.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
He glanced down at her. "For what?"  
  
She closed her eyes and pressed herself tighter against him. "For everything; you'll never even know."  
  
He shrugged and wrapped a strong arm around her, pulling her even closer. "Thank you," he whispered, believing her to be asleep.  
  
Amy smiled within herself, the deep part of her that loved her with all she had understanding exactly what he meant. She didn't need words or logic to explain the emotions she felt. All she believed in was this moment, in all its perfection.  
  
And that was enough.  
  
Scott watched her sleep, trying to memorize her every facial feature. "Shows how much you love this girl," he thought to himself. "Here she is pressed as tight as possible against you and both of you half-dressed, and all you can think about it her face."  
  
But he couldn't help it. She looked like some kind of fiery, sleeping angel. "Thank you," he whispered again, though it was more addressed to God this time, or whoever it was that decided he was worthy of being blessed with such a creation. "Thank you so so much."  
  
Feeling her safe and secure in his arms, he drifted off to sleep. 


End file.
